For The Uninformed, This Is What 'Natural' Hair Looked Like Before The 'Curly' Infiltration aka "New Black" Took Over

Before the latest anti-black dysfunction adopted by many black people who have not worked through their color racism and hair texture discrimination, was slapped on top of the current “natural hair” phenom encouraging black women to embrace the hair that grows out of their scalps and it became all about achieving loose waves and ringlets, there was this:

Vintage Afro Sheen ad

Look! Hair that looks shiny, moisturized with no dry ends or single strand snarls!

AND NOT A MANUFACTURED CURL PATTERN IN SIGHT.

It’s an A-F-R-O.

Just a hairstyle…..

The ONLY act of militancy from wearing a legitimate afro TODAY is doing so in the midst of BLACK PEOPLE!

I thought I should mention that I stopped chemically processing my hair about four 1/2 years ago. It wasn’t a deliberate decision, I just got tired of not seeing certain results I wanted with my hair and shifted my budget elsewhere. I had no idea there were so many hair blogs and YouTube channels devoted to “natural hair”. I’ve skimmed through most of the sites and vlogs since and even shared a few here on the main site and on our social media channels.

I even posted some photos of my first blow-out after a long-needed haircut a few weeks ago. My hair felt like cotton candy and while I liked wearing it straight for a few hours, I’m used to my curls. While I don’t pay direct attention to most of black-related media, I can count on many part of those channels to exchange information which I’ll review. So, between a mother discussing her son’s PTSD from experiencing violence while living in Blackistan and the anger about a non-black woman claiming to share the same experiences as non-mixed black women on a hair site frequented by black women as well as the passing of an R&B legend, it’s been an emotional few days for some people.

Isn’t it ironic that Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o has a video on HAIR BRAIDING in Vogue (celebrating blackness as normal), while some African American women are stunned to discover they were inadvertently supporting blackface fronts for white interests?

It didn’t take me that long to figure out one major hair blog was in fact, white-owned. I googled her name, an early hair forum of the parent company popped up in the results and it was rather plainly laid out. While I do have great research skills (lol), I actually thought this was common knowledge.

By the way, watching too many of the YT vlogs will drive you insane. Given most of these sites don’t have my hair texture and results vary, I’m glad I didn’t start viewing them until after I completed my own learning process. I have three different textures on one head. And even looking at videos of 4C vlogs my hair doesn’t quite look the same. I think there is an obsessive fascination with “curls” and hair length status updates, but realize if someone is trying to make money from their vlogs, they’re going to push more complicated hairstyles and tons of products. And at least one vlogger has publicly discussed the texture hypocrisy.

The problem of course is that many black women were already coming from a lesser-than point of view and you see how easy it is to gravitate towards women whose skin tone or hair texture are viewed as more desirable thanks to our anti-black woman devastation, that making stars out of them is very similar to how other women (often lighter toned, biracial, etc) are lifted up. You can’t just be relaxer-free, your hair must behave and look certain way!

*And by the way I figured out that most of the problems I’d attributed to relaxed hair (dryness, breakage, fragility) is MY HAIR and has nothing to do with a relaxer.

********

Go figure.

The.

End.

But I will pop back in to say thank goodness I skipped following all of the hair blogs and YouTube ‘Gurus’. I may have missed all of the back-stabbing drama from a few years ago but I’m finding the public dragging of the DIRT people do being exposed rather enlightening. In fact, some of it reads JUST like the stuff that some fake-BWE infiltrators tried to pull. So, the latest outrage over a white woman trying to dominate a conversation on what is in fact a white-owned hair blog that black women put on the map would not have been a surprise had people been paying attention to what was going on the entire time. Which includes who they flocked to for reasons other than haircare tips.

**P.S. I did catch a black woman blogger known for her weight loss, clean eating and fitness blog who rocks an old skool AFRO mention on her Twitter feed last week the number of dirty looks she gets from other ‘Naturals’ on the regular.

Anyway…..

Here’s the full history of the shenanigans at the Curly Nikki blog if you’d like to catch up (yes, I’m linking to LSA and yes, no stone has been left unturned):

7368158 comments to http%3A%2F%2Factsoffaithblog.com%2Ffor-the-uninformed-this-is-what-natural-hair-looked-like-before-the-curly-infiltration-aka-new-black-took-overFor+The+Uninformed%2C+This+Is+What+%27Natural%27+Hair+Looked+Like+Before+The+%27Curly%27+Infiltration+aka+%22New+Black%22+Took+Over2014-07-05+15%3A00%3A28Faithhttp%3A%2F%2Factsoffaithblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D7368For The Uninformed, This Is What ‘Natural’ Hair Looked Like Before The ‘Curly’ Infiltration aka “New Black” Took Over

Having sported a large "stop sign" Afro from the age of 12 to 18 back in the late 1960's to mid 1970's, I have to let you know that the huge undifferentiated Afro required care, and a lot of it. First, one definitely had to braid it up several times a week. If it wasn't braided at least every other night (and for some folks, every night) what one ended up wearing was not the beautiful circular mass, but rather the dreaded flat sided hatchet head look. And if you braided it too much, your hair would get too straight to stand up and so would randomly part, leaving you looking like Bozo. Your Afro would shrink when it got wet. Your Afro would shrink at the swimming pool. And it would definitely shrink at a party, especially one where the temperature in the house was 20 degrees hotter than the temperature outside the house. Remember, back then everyone and their Mama didn't have air-conditioning.

There were products for your Afro so that you could achieve the huge Angela Davis stop sign fro. There was the "blow out kit". There was Afro Sheen so your Afro wasn't dry and dusty. And there were complexion/hair skirmishes back then too.

As long as we cannot see and affirm our own beauty, we will have these foolish competitions. So someone wants 3a instead of 4c hair. Or vice versa. So what? Isn't it that woman's issue to resolve? When she learns that she is beautiful and that her best self is enough, no one will be able to tell her that she is enough, that she is beautiful.

I had permed hair for 8 of my 58 years. I've had locks, twists, braids, cornrows, the huge Afro, the teeny-weeny afro, and Bantu Knots. My hair has been blonde, auburn, fire engine red, and mixed grey. It has fallen out, and is growing back (THAT was traumatic). Your hair is enough. You are enough. Love your hair and love yourself. As long as you are healthy, everything is good.

And stop mythologizing the past. It might not be what you think it was.

I am informed. I don’t think we have to choose. I think that we should accept and love our hair just the way of is. Now I do think that it is still not good on self este if you see manipulation of you hair as the only way if can look acceptable. But what I absolutely love about us black women no matter 4b or 4c…or different types on one head is the versatility. I do have a problem with (natural or not) seeing reversion as a problem. Its not. The volume of our hair is nothing short of and we know it is coveted among ppl with thin lifeless hair and to be able to manipulate it for call these creative fun styles with just our own thick wonderful hair is wonderful but….love your hair without the manipulation as well. That is pur foundation or you will just trade one dangerous chemical prison for a safer prison. Ijs.

At first I had no idea this is what was going on until I noticed that several bloggers never featured women with tightly coiled hair on their blogs and an individual had to do some type of manipulation to change their hairs appearance in order to be featured. I've worn my hair in the manner in which it grows all of my life and was super happy to see younger women finally embracing their God-given tresses only to be let down after realizing that many of them still didn't accept their hair texture as it is. It is what it is and it's no benefit to me what they do because I don't support any of them.

Hi Faith,this is Truth P./Elle I have to say I am completely dumbfounded and offended by some of the comments left here. I completely understand what you are getting at and I am disgusted to see how you were attacked here.I am not good when I speak out of anger at all so it took me a long while to make this comment so as to remain respectful to your blog. I appreciate your efforts to take us higher and to help other black women get a little bit more free. I pray your efforts to be a blessing to black women will be returned to you a million fold.

I initially had some words for the "obtuse" and Marie Antionette's but then I realized I really don't G.A.F about them or what they think
.(shoulder shrug)
I view them as little children who crave attention and I refuse to walk around with my head stuck up some white woman's daughter's ass.I have NEVER bought into that we are all sisters BS and I NEVER will.And as far as I'm concerned the "obtuse" black women are just pure "niggerstock" TM Kola Boof i.e Celie before she got free from Mister. I have 0 respect for any of these low value/no value leaches.May they eat the fruit of their own evil/contempt of black women and cowardliness.

I got the message in the piece loud and clear. I agree with the premise of the piece 100% and any attempt to derail, minimize, or reframe the issue should be viewed as hostile. Thank you Faith for articulating the things we find hard to do in mixed company (pun intended).

First off, Please explain what a 'new black' is? Secondly, I wish people would worry about themselves rather than what someone else is doing. How does someone having curly hair, wearing a relaxer, weave, twist out, bantu knots, etc effect you? If you are putting that much energy into someone else's life and hair, then you really have a problem. I have been reading blog posts and forums on this very topic and it sickens me. Thinking like this only brings out the racist and obvious insecurities in some folks. People need to embrace their hair in whatever state it is in.

There is far too many things to explain to you in one reply if you're coming into this conversation without basic critical thinking skills and a closed mind. So I suggest you read the comments which covered every angle of the essay and exposed the agendas of the dissenters. IF you are actually interested in moving forward.